Spirituality & Religion – Are They the Same?
With the Holidays just around the corner, it got me thinking about…
Spirituality and Religion – are they the same thing? Do you attend your church of choice? Do you pray while you are there? Or do you just perform or recite the words required in the service by rote? Do you feel connected to your Supreme Being / God as you pray? Or are you in church because it is required and you are “following the rules?” Or because you Fear not to? Are you fulfilled by your communion with your God or is something missing?
Now don’t stop reading because I mentioned God. And before you get upset or angry with me, I have to tell you these are questions I have mulled over for awhile, but really didn’t have answers to – and the answers I DID get I really didn’t like. Don’t get me wrong, I attend church regularly, but for me something was missing while I was there. I was raised Catholic, spent nine years in Catholic grammar school, a time when subconscious connections and deep beliefs are furrowed and planted in a child’s mind. So deep in fact, that as an intelligent adult they still surface to make me feel guilty. It’s also interesting that all these guilt thoughts that surface are all negatives…”You can’t get into Heaven if…a) you don’t obey your parents and teachers, b) you don’t go to church every Sunday, c) you fill in the blank with any negative you learned.
Does this resonate with you? While I certainly don’t pretend to have all the answers, I have found that equating God with Spiritual Awareness makes more sense. I actually feel connected to God, instead of being in awe or worse, in Fear of Him.
Recently, I have been in a coaching program where we have been studying books on Spirituality, Consciousness and Awareness. These are books I would never have thought to read or considered reading before. But they have opened up my mind to seeing another side of religion as spirituality. What I realized is how the strength of our connection to our God/Supreme Being becomes greater(as our awareness, consciousness and spirituality increases and gets stronger. This was big for me – I was a doer, took control and believed I controlled my life. But as I learned that no matter at what point we are in our lives, we cannot achieve our deepest wants and desires unless we realize and allow that connection to God / our Supreme Power.
When we think or believe we can do everything ourselves, we are deluding ourselves. Sure, maybe we attain some success with our “doing” but eventually we burn ourselves up and burn out…we just can’t maintain control any longer. Circumstances are suddenly taken out of our control and no matter what we “do” things seem to go wrong!
Our ego depends on past experiences to make decisions about how to advise us on what to do. When things are going all wrong, ego has been presented with new circumstances about which it has no experience to base a decision. Ego has no idea what to do, but also has no intention of giving up control. So ego takes a stab in the dark and presents ideas which, of coarse, eventually fail. As well they must, since they are not based on the Purpose God has for us!
However, having a “real” connection to God and all He desires for us, accepting Him as the Master of our life, and allowing God to do His work through us, is what brings us complete Peace and Success. This connection with God and our Purpose is what brings true Joy and Happiness in our life!
So what have I learned about Religion and Spirituality? Yes, they definitely CAN be the same…but it is up to US to make it our Truth.
Have I stirred some emotion inside you? Did anything in this article resonate with you? Please leave your comments…I’d love to hear from you!
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